[Lead concentrations in breast milk of women living in urban areas compared with women living in rural areas].

In the last twenty years a great interest has grown up about the accumulation of lead in the environment, because many studies have found relationship between exposure to low lead doses and neuropsychological impairment of children. The Authors have measured and then compared the lead content of milk from women living in city-areas and women living in rural areas, not having professional lead exposure. 34 samples of women milk from the rural areas and 20 samples from the city areas were examined: the lead mean concentration of the rural areas milk samples was 45.62 microgr/l with a range from 0 to 425 microgr/l; the mean concentration of the city areas samples was 126.55 microgr/l with a range from 1 to 472 microgr/l. The data were compared with the Student t-test and the difference was statistically significant at p = 0.01. The Authors examine the correlations between environmental lead accumulation and increased lead concentration in woman milk, laying stress on the possible hazard to health and neuropsychological development of children, mostly of those living in urban areas with heavy road traffic and industrial activity.